The Flying Future for America's Missile Shield

This week the Obama administration said that it will likely scale back plans to install ground-based missile defense interceptors in Poland and the Czech Republic. While the Iranian long-range rocket threat is now downgraded, missile defense interceptors are still part of U.S. military strategy. The move away from ground-based interceptors in Europe could signal a technological shift—to the air. Could air-launched interceptors be the answer for missile defense?

The big news in missile defense this week is that the Obama administration will likely scale back plans to install ground-based missile defense interceptors in Europe that are designed to protect allies and U.S. forces in Europe from long-range Iranian missiles. The assessment that backs this decision will be released next week. It states that Iranian long-range missiles pose less of a threat than short- and medium-range ones. That assessment is raising howls of protest, but the reality is that shorter-range missiles are easier to operate and cheaper to buy. The defense department is researching ways that its warplanes could shoot down these missiles. Raytheon and Lockheed Martin are now vying for a Missile Defense Agency contract to develop and test these new missiles; industry sources say that a decision on which company will be chosen to demonstrate the technology is expected by the end of December. The administration's letter will likely be a big boost for these companies' attempts to sell these systems.

Airborne missile defense systems have strong backing from the Pentagon. Earlier this year, chief of staff Gen. Norton Schwartz sent a letter to the head of the Missile Defense Agency, supporting the use of F-15s, F-16s and more advanced warplanes like the stealthy F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning II warplanes to shoot down missiles while they launch. The concept is dubbed Air Launched Hit To Kill, or ALHTK. In both manufacturers' systems, a two-stage rocket is launched, tipped with a warhead that holds an infrared and radar seeker. Since the airplane is at high altitudes, the warhead can meet a target quickly. More importantly, fighters can scramble quickly to meet surprise threats, whereas ground-based systems are not as flexible.

These new antiballistic missiles could be launched from unmanned systems like the MQ-9 Reaper. But to be of use, UAVs need to be stealthier. Air Force officials say that the MQ-X, the next-generation UAV, which will follow the Reaper, will have more stealth features so that it can operate in airspace guarded by radar. That could enable a UAV to get close enough to a launchpad to take out a rising ballistic missile in its boost or ascent phase. Such ideas could replace the troubled Airborne Laser Program, which mounts its powerful laser weapon on a large airplane that could easily be spotted on enemy radar. Raytheon is touting its NCADE, the Network Centric Airborne Defense Element. The weapon has the same form as a common antiaircraft missile called AMRAAM (Advanced Medium Range Air to Air Missile) so the new missile could fit on the weapon rails on existing airplanes. Lockheed Martin has been studying the concept since 2007 on existing antimissile products such as its Patriot missile battery upgrade, the PAC-3. The Missile Defense Agency has proposed spending $3.5 million on the NCADE in the 2010 fiscal year, according to Flight Global.